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The present invention relates to the monitoring and management of voice, video and data networks, and more particularly, to the use of decision support systems to assist operators in managing network devices and network interconnections. The present invention provides an intelligent decision support system for management of distributed data and voice networks using a partial order planner.
Communication (voice, data, and video) networks are increasingly becoming mission critical components of businesses. As companies become more dependent on their networks, the cost of network outages increases tremendously in lost revenue and lost productivity.
Today, various network management packages such as Hewlett-Packard OpenView(trademark) and LeCroy Vigilant Networks(trademark) provide tools to monitor computer networks, alerting operators when problems are detected. Most of the available systems use the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to monitor various network devices, periodically polling the devices by pinging the devices or by sending out a SNMP request. If a device fails to respond, then the system notifies an operator and the device is identified as unreachable on the network management console.
Vigilant Networks(trademark) provides some added features that help to identify certain network problems such as network congestion and network errors. This system is superior to previous network management systems in that it is able to monitor additional information that may identify problems that are slowing down a computer network regardless of whether a failure occurs. Basically, the Vigilant Networks(trademark) system works by providing additional network information and statistics related to the physical network layer to the management console.
As networks become larger and more complex, operators are increasingly deluged with unmanageable amounts of data. At the same time, network quality of service goals require rapid response to any degradation or hostile network traffic. There is a great desire for an intelligent network management solution that assist network operators in monitoring and managing large complex networks.
As communication networks increase in size, so to does the complexity of network management. It was once easy to visualize the components of a network so that a single operator could quickly determine a likely point of failure of a device and fix the problem. Today, networks are becoming too large for operators to ponder all of the interrelations between thousands of network components to determine the cause of a problem. There is a desire for a system and method that can assist a user in narrowing down the possible causes of a performance problem and suggest or implement potential solutions beyond mere fault detection.
Modern networks are often critical to the successful operation of a business or industrial process. When degradation or malfunctions within network devices have been diagnosed, it is often necessary to reconfigure the network devices and their data as rapidly as possible so that quality of service can be maintained. There is a desire for an intelligent network management solution that assists in performing network reconfigurations in order to rapidly carry out a planned network response to a disturbance.
Additionally, using such services as the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), operators can monitor large amounts of data from a central console. As networks grow, the amount of data becomes unwieldy. Data only becomes information to a user by virture of its relevance to the user""s active goals and methods for achieving them. The modem network operator finds himself data rich, but information poor. There is a desire to provide a system and method for assisting a human operator by displaying the information most pertinent to the operator""s goals or plans.
The large size, complexity, and distributed nature of networks often result in the need to employ many human network technicians, who are simultaneously interacting with different network devices at remote locations and with different intentions. These activities can produce unexpected network degradation and outages due to unexpected interactions between the separate technical activities. There is a need for an intelligent network management solution that can detect potential degrading interactions between network operations and activities before they occur.
Finally, there is a desire to provide a network management console that interprets the intentions of a human operator and adjusts the information displayed on the network management console based on the user""s intention.
Several patents disclosing network management systems have been issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,649 issued to Rosu et al. (the ""649 patent) discloses a system for optimizing the traffic capacity of a telecommunications network by receiving traffic data from each exchange in the network and dynamically fine tuning the congestion condition. The ""649 patent does not disclose an intelligent decision support system that can determine the intention of the user and adjust a display console based on that intent. In addition, it describes how to tune for traffic capacity but not for revenue, which is a completely different need for modem network managers.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,905,715 issued to Azarmi et al. (the ""715 patent) discloses a network management application that receives data from a network, analyzes it, and acts on it by issuing reports and control outputs appropriately. This system does not provide for active, goal-directed planning nor conflict detection across multiple independent actors as does the present invention.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,447 issued to Kohn et al. (the ""447 patent) discloses a system of distributed agents working together in a network to control complex distributed processes. This system shows one way in which a collection of intelligent agents can interact and cooperate to achieve goals; however, the ""447 patent discloses using the technology to build control systems and not an intelligent decision support system that assists multiple human network controllers and operators such as that provided by the present invention.
There is a need for an intelligent decision support system that improves on the prior art by providing user intent inferencing so that system can update displays and make suggestions based on the current intent of a user. There is a need for a system that is able to detect conflicts between the intentions and operational plans of multiple network operators. There is also a need for a system that uses a partial-order planner to provide real-time intelligent decision support to a user across very large network systems.
In accordance with the invention, a method for providing intelligent decision support in a network management system is provided. The method includes monitoring actions received by a network management console. The actions received are used to interpret the intent of a human operator. Finally, the method includes updating the network management console display based on the determined intent of the human operator. More specific embodiments include monitoring for one or more key presses, mouse clicks, and mouse movements to assist in determining the intentions of a network operator. A more specific embodiment also includes determining a plan for carrying out a determined intention. In some embodiments, the plan is created using an inference engine which can include a non-monotonic truth maintenance system, and a partial-order planner. Finally, a more specific embodiment includes monitoring communications networks used to transport data communications, voice communications, and video communications.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an intelligent decision support system is provided for managing a communications network. The system includes a knowledge base encoding expert knowledge about communication networks, an inference engine, a network management system, and a graphical user interface. The inference engine is coupled to the knowledge base and is used to determine the intent of a network operator. The network management system is used to collect data from a plurality of network devices, and the graphical user interface displays information regarding the communications network. The intelligent decision support system modifies the information displayed by the graphical user interface based on the determined intent of the network operator.
Further, more specific embodiments of the present invention represent knowledge as plan and goal graphs, concept graphs, and/or scripts comprising sequences of partially-specified primitive network control actions. Some embodiments use an inference engine including a partial order planner, and/or a nonmonotonic truth maintenance system.
Embodiments of the present invention can be used to manage communications networks transporting data communications, voice communications, and video communications.